A 30-year-old heavy vehicle operator from Wagga Wagga has been ordered to pay $42,000 for multiple heavy vehicle offences in Walgett, NSW.
The Traffic Highway and Patrol Command of the NSW Police reported that the matter was before Walgett Local Court yesterday (March 26) where the driver was convicted of all the below offences:
1. Driver work more than maximum standard time – Critical Breach (2x).
2. Driver work more than maximum standard time – Minor Breach (1x).
3. Driver as record keeper not keep record available (2x).
4. Driver not record prescribed information in written work diary (1x).
5. Driver not record information after starting work (4x).
6. Driver not record information as prescribed by National Regulations (18x).
He was further issued a penalty notice for Class C Heavy Vehicle Exceed Speed Limit (>10 km/h), carrying a $546 fine and three demerit points.
According to NSW Police, the charges stemmed from the Walgett Highway Patrol conducting speed enforcement in Walgett on February 2.
At about 11.30am that day, police detected a heavy vehicle travelling at 64km/h within the 50km/h zone.
Officers spoke to the driver who produced a work diary which was “immediately observed to be non-compliant in just the recent records being made in the diary”.
Police noted that he recently was spoken to by other “authorised officers” in relation to these breaches where he was issued a warning and directed to rectify his work diary.
After multiple weeks, the driver still failed to do so, said police.
He told police that he was busy and that he was going to do it later. Police said the driver later told them that he was just being lazy and planned to do it on the weekend.
Police then seized the diary for analysis and the driver was later issued with a court attendance notice for the alleged offences.
Was he driving dangerously at any time ?